Alan Lomax was a musicologist and folklorist who dedicated his life to preserving traditional music from around the world. His collection "Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People" showcases his work documenting American folk music. Lomax's efforts helped bring many forgotten artists and musical styles to wider attention.
The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs
The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs
Synopsis
Compiled and edited with notes by Alan Lomax, The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs gathers 111 ballads, sea shanties, love songs, lullabies, reels, work songs, cowboy songs and spirituals popular in America from colonial days to modern times.
Each song is set with piano arrangements by Elizabeth Poston and guitar chords, making the collection playable rather than merely archival. Lomax's introduction sketches the history and development of American folk music, and the songs are grouped by region and tradition — Yankee songs, Southern mountain songs, lullabies, spirituals, Western songs and later compositions.
Published by Penguin Books in 1964, it is a compact companion to the field recordings and collecting work that made Lomax the central figure in twentieth-century American folk song scholarship.
